Hi

I'm just wondering what kind of skills/knowledge and level of competency are required to land a Junior Web Dev role in the UK. I'm guessing the following are basics and needed but please correct me and add any others I might of missed.

HTML
CSS
PSD to HTML
jQuery
Git
SASS or whatever
A little Ruby, Python, Javascript or PHP
A portfolio (not a skill, obviously)

I'd also love to hear your stories on how you gained your first role in Web Development for science purposes.

Thanks,

Marcus

Nice post. I'm in the same position at the moment. I do however work online for a few professional web devs. Another skill required, to add to your list can be to familiarise yourself with Firework - the guys I work for all use this for web design and they leave Photoshop for the digital design etc. May not be the case for everyone but eh, more you know ey?

I had a friend get a role like that with less skills, all he did was make a portfolio website and then made a few websites for friends and landed himself a job, i think you just have to show enthusiasm and willing to learn, the skills will be taught!

This is a good topic. Anybody want to suggest how many sites you should have in your portfolio before starting to apply for jobs?

I got my first role 11 months ago,

 

At the time I knew Css, Sass, Html, JavaScript, jQuery and a little php and wordpress.

 

The first thing I was tasked with to learn was git, basic command line and less before I could be effective in any project. I'd say learn git because I was close to not getting the job because I didn't know git. Most agencies are using or should be using version control so learning git would be a very good thing.

 

You don't need to necessarily learn Less, I'd probably stick to Sass as more agencies are coding in that, and I'm in talks with our MD about dropping less for sass in future projects.

 

As citypaul said, attitude is vital, if you come across as excited and show a willingness to develop yourself, demonstrate good communication skills you should impress.

 

As for portfolio the kinds of sites I don't think matter, They want to see that you can code, my designs were awful, but they liked the code, and at the end of the day we have designers to take care of that. Take printouts of code examples. I created a load of functions in jsFiddle to show that I understand things, can write JavaScript functions without having to resort to plugins and so on.

Edited July 2, 201412 yr by rbrtsmith

Nice post. I'm in the same position at the moment. I do however work online for a few professional web devs. Another skill required, to add to your list can be to familiarise yourself with Firework - the guys I work for all use this for web design and they leave Photoshop for the digital design etc. May not be the case for everyone but eh, more you know ey?

 

I would say the number of agencies using Firework are in a minority so only learn that if a specific agency you wish to work for use this. Most either use photoshop or design in the browser.

Thanks rbrtsmith. That's really helpful.

 

I'm planning to start applying for Dev jobs once the summer touring season is over. It takes me quite a long time to do a site because I'm not really a designer, and I'm quite fussy about wanting things to look good before I release them. I know I can code though, and I've got quite a few things on Codepen that I can use as examples.

If you're applying for a coding role then just buy some designs or something of that nature as they will be assessing you on your code, not the design itself. Once you're working as a coder you just get handed designs from the design team. Although at my place there's a lot of collaboration between coders and designers as we need to check if certain designs will make sense in terms of speed and code efficiency, so some understanding of design could help you.

Thanks for all the replies lads. At the moment I'm only familiar with HTML & CSS so I have a ways to go before I learn all the other things on my list. I'm also learning a little about design so I can design my own sites and portfolio and I guess it will come in handy when talking with designers if I understand the terminology they use. As for the enthusiasm, I definitely have it as I'm finding learning all these new things so much fun. It's a long road ahead and hopefully I can come out the other side with some form of employment

 

Thanks,

Marcus

 

p.s. rbrtsmith, I've always wondered if you are part Swedish as I would imagine it would be difficult getting a job in a different country and learning a new language.

My junior role I got with PhotoShop / Illustrator / Fireworks / Dreamweaver / HTML and a printed portfolio! But that was in 1999 when frames were cool, ColdFusion was hip and tables were the ultimate in design control

 

The guy who interviewed me gave me the job simply because one test I had to spot 10 errors in the page. I found 11 flaws to the design but apparently it was a spelling test

@@mug2k I'm not Swedish! Long story short I met a Swede while I was travelling in Asia and ended up here. For most industries knowing Swedish is mandatory.. but I was lucky to find a startup web agency who needed a front end guy, they can all speak English so no problem!

I have every intention of learning Swedish but im still spending most of my free time learning web stuff.

 

You'll do well with the kind of attitude you have, its a marathon not a sprint, just keep moving forward bit by bit!

@@mug2k I'm not Swedish! Long story short I met a Swede while I was travelling in Asia and ended up here. For most industries knowing Swedish is mandatory.. but I was lucky to find a startup web agency who needed a front end guy, they can all speak English so no problem!

I have every intention of learning Swedish but im still spending most of my free time learning web stuff.

 

You'll do well with the kind of attitude you have, its a marathon not a sprint, just keep moving forward bit by bit!

 

Thanks for the kind words, I'll try to live by the principles of ABC (Always Be Creating) .

 

I want to visit a few of the Scandinavian countries at some point, they have some beautiful landscapes and the women ain't half bad either. Is there much difference in terms of living expenses between England and Sweden?

Edited July 3, 201412 yr by mug2k

Yes, Sweden is much more expensive, especially if you like alcohol, average price for a pint is over £5. I went to Norway recently and it cost me £8 for a beer! But both countries do indeed have beautiful scenery, and it's true there's an abundance of good looking women

 

In my opinion though the costs are worth it, firstly wages are higher so the cost of living is comparative, but the standard of living is higher than the UK, lower crime rates etc. Best decision I ever made was to leave the UK, and it's only a 3 hr flight go and visit family and friends.